Yukon uses federal bill to sort out provision of assisted dying

A working group made up of medical professionals and government officials will use federal legislation tabled Thursday to begin sorting out how assisted dying procedures will be carried out in the territory, Yukon Justice Minister Brad Cathers said.

• Doctor-assisted dying bill restricted to adults facing 'foreseeable' death

• Read the text of billC-14on medical-assisted dying

The legislation is the federal government's response to a Supreme Court decision last year that struck down the ban on physician-assisted dying. The court has given the government until June 6 to have a new law in place.

Cathers does not know if Yukon's health care system will be able to meet that deadline.

"Once we've had a chance to fully go through that new legislation, we'll be in a better position to understand what steps may be necessary in the Yukon to implement the Supreme Court of Canada decision and comply with the federal legislation," Cathers said.

One of the questions that needs to be answered is how doctors will be chosen or identified as willing to carry out the procedure.

For now, Yukoners will have to seek court order

In the meantime, Yukoners who wish to apply for an assisted dying procedure will have to get a court order, Cathers said.

• Yukon working on guidelines for assisted dying

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell said he'll talk to Yukoners before deciding how to vote on the federal government's new legislation.

Bagnell saidhe's pleased the government has put tight conditions on who can receive medical assistance to die.

Doctor-assisted death will be restricted to mentally competent adults who have serious and incurable illness, disease or disability, andto those "suffering intolerably" and whose death is "reasonably foreseeable."

"There will be lots of people totally against it, which we can't do because of the Supreme Court order, but there will be other people that would like the bill to go farther," Bagnell said.

"So I will try and get the input I get from Yukoners into the debate."

MPs from the Liberal, Conservative and NDP parties will be allowed to vote their conscience on the bill. That means they won't be forced by their leader to vote one way or another.

Bagnell said he has not been told about that.